Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
The worst thing about being down river is potential you can get hit during the hurricane and again 3-5 days later when the river crests from all the water dumped upstream. Because of Ian’s path I don’t think you have to worry much about that. Mathew did as much flooding damage a week after it left.
The storm surge along Horry County has pretty intense. We’ve been hit by bigger storms with a lot less water coming over the dunes. These storms are just different now. A mile, mile and a half in land just a tree here and there and other debris.
Last edited by Kdogg; 09-30-2022 at 07:12 PM.
Finally heard from mom in Charleston.
"Well, we thought we were just fine, but went out to find a big limb had crushed the car."
Sigh. Irony, she told me my step-dad suggested that they move the cars so they'd be ok. Had they left them, the limb would have missed.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
I moved my wife's car because of a tree
.the very end of a big branch Landed right where her car was.it wouldn't have crushed it. Caught the edge of my son's truck .
But it's only 3 months old .took two months to order .
Saw a service member removing the tattered flag at front of my neighborhood. Replacing it with a new one.
That was a awesome sight.
Non-event here in Asheville. Overnight rain. A few gusts.
Sobering collection of pictures (not mine), about 170 of them if you want to click through:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...84801485104019
Ian will be our (U.S.) most costly storm in history...at least for a few years.
Minor damage in my neighborhood, but I have friends and business colleagues with catastrophic damage. This sucks.
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. - George Jean Nathan
Death of a beach. Seawalls collapsing in the Daytona Beach area (watch 2-minute video):
https://www.wesh.com/article/daytona...amage/41470171
This is the beginning of the end, folks. It ain't gonna be getting better, only worse.
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. - George Jean Nathan
That doesn't look good .a architect built his parents a hurricane proof home
On the island here years ago.
But it's still susceptible to erosion.
I wouldn't mind having one inland though.
The shear wieght of the structure is amazing.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/22/photos-famous-eye-of-the-storm-charleston-dome-house-for-sale.html
We call it the mushroom house.
Passing along an update from Wheat, in Boca Grande:
Cell service getting better.
Cavalry of 50+ Fla Power & Light trucks arrived today so hopefully power soon restored on the island,
My bass fishing buddies have come through and I've been getting about 700 gallons of fuel delivered in 55-gallon jugs in the back of a horse trailer every day and distributing it out through our charitable foundation -- generators and chain saws are working overtime.
On Boca Grande the damage was heavy, but nothing as bad as Sanibel I hear. I really don't know what's going on in the world, only had one night of internet and TV when I went to Sarasota for a shower, but was too tired to deal with trying to catch up.
I'll check on the Board at some point, but please let everyone know we are digging out on Boca Grande and we'll be okay. Thanks.
As someone who vividly recalls dealing with primitive conditions after hurricane damage, I can relate to some of what Wheat and his neighbors are now experiencing. As I told Wheat, it's not fun, but does seem a little bit of an adventure at times (mainly in retrospect). But in all seriousness, the degree of devastation suffered by those residing in southwest Florida is difficult to comprehend for any of us who continue to enjoy each day with accustomed conveniences. Here's hoping they can resume some semblance of normal life soon, and can get the help they need to rebuild those tragically wrecked communities.
I’m baaaack!…and consider myself very lucky.
FPL contractor Pike got our power restored today, 9 days after we lost it. Pretty darn impressive if you could see the damage here. They rolled in late Wednesday afternoon with at least 50 trucks carrying, the replacement poles that were snapped and another 30 or so carrying lineman from as far as Texas and Oklahoma. They jumped on it and it’s awful nice to have a good shower that’s not a bucket of potable water.
Our local water department finally got the water going yesterday.
Verizon brought out some mobile cell towers and placed them around the island and now I’ve got enough data service for internet. They set them up Thursday evening, so one week after the storm. We had some limited service the whole time in certain spots around the island, like a bridge or sea wall. Can’t complain about their response.
I still haven’t seen a TV since the storm so I’m a little out of touch. One of my deputy buddies is on a dive team in Lee County and I heard today that he had a call yesterday and retrieved a deceased person from a car somewhere south in the flooded areas. That’s 8 days after the storm. Tells you how bad it still is around the Ft Myers’s area.
Thankfully we didn’t get the storm surge they did, just the eyewall winds. Again,we were lucky.
The local paper needed some content so they asked me to write something up this week since their staff couldn’t get in due to their own issues dealing with their homes that were damaged. I’m not a professional writer, I just did my best.
Here it is…
The 30 mile storm.
Before even starting a conversation about how Boca Grande fared in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, we need to recognize, and never forget, how fortunate we were to have been spared the high storm surge waters that destroyed homes, business, bridges, roads and lives around Ft. Myers, Sanibel, Pine Island and the surrounding areas.
30 miles.
That was about the distance that saved Boca Grande from catastrophic damage to “only” severe damage and no loss of life.
It could have been so much worse.
Early predictions had Ian slowly making it’s way north just off Key West, riding the coastline with a bead drawn squarely on Tampa Bay. It surely looked like we were going to get the 150mph plus onshore westerly winds at some point that are so dangerous and damaging.
A Cat 5 hurricane 30 miles off the coast of Gasparilla Island, that’s everyone’s nightmare.
Most islanders are either fishermen or boaters with a higher than average understanding of weather and winds, so there was a keen understanding prior to this storm that it was deadly, and we were in its path for the worst of it as it was destined to ride the coastline and hit north of us between Sarasota and Tampa Bay.
Then, sort of out of the blue and right at the point of no return for us, hurricane Ian did what hurricanes often do, it slowed down, strengthened and became indecisive.
As conditions deteriorated on arrival day, Ian drifted slightly east and almost stalled about 30 miles south of Boca Grande, still unsure of the path it wanted to take.
Option one, head north, maybe a little west, and Ian would leave a massive storm surge in its wake all along Florida‘s west coast.
Option two, slide across to the north and east, and blast the State’s interior.
There were no good, or fair, options. But it was clear, for us the nightmare scenario was option one.
If a person wanted odds to bet on which direction was next, it was a 50-50 at that point, with the center of hell laying about 30 miles to our south.
It’s bad enough to be struck head on by a Cat 5 moving quickly on by, like Charlie did in 2004. But to creep along and almost stall, beating on you for hours is a whole different sort of beating.
Our neighbors to the south know.
As Ian was making up it’s mind, crawling along, the westerly onshore winds and storm surge pounded the Ft. Myers Beach, Sanibel area, while the 125mph plus easterly off shore winds relentlessly beat on Boca Grande.
We were on the “good” side of this hurricane at the time, if there was one.
Finally, Ian slowly made a move north. Boca Grande straight in its crosshairs.
As the downtown area entered the west side of the eye, which was fairly large for a hurricane, about 30 miles across, the 125mph + southeast winds laid down to 20-25 mph, and there was a brief period of sunlight in town.
The sun and lighter winds of the eye brought a sense of optimism to those on the island who briefly ventured out to survey the damage.
That was proven to be misplaced, in hindsight. The backside winds were much worse.
Whether it was a normal shift in a hurricanes track, or a divine wobble in the reorganization of the eye wall, for some reason just as Ian approached Boca Grande this storm made a significant jog to the east of…you guessed it, about 30 miles.
That small shift in distance brought the most destructive eye wall winds down from a more northerly direction, roughly running parallel north to south along the island, sparing us of westerly winds that would have brought us a tremendous storm surge and even more destruction than we can likely imagine.
We were extraordinarily lucky.
30 miles didn’t seem like a great distance prior to hurricane Ian, but now we know just how important every inch can be.
Capt. Wheat/“/“/“
Wheat! You deserve a Pulitzer Prize for your write up! Glad you’re safe and still with us!
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com